I was invited to Intel AppUp Lab event which took place in Barcelona on February 16, 2011. Since Barcelona is not (so) far I have decided to pay a visit and see what is new in application development for netbooks and, as I later discovered, tablets as well. The main focus of the Lab event was the new MeeGo 1.2 alpha preview version and recruitment of the developers for MeeGo platform (“ecosystem of companies and devices”).

The event was held in Barcelona Activa at the same time as MWC 2011 (Mobile World Congress). After some presentations of the MeeGo platform and future plans there were also some demos on how to develop Hello World application for the tablets by using QT Developer and QT Quick. We could also live preview the freshest ExoPC tablet with the freshest MeeGo 1.2 alpha preview OS for tablets on it.

Here are some focus points of all the presentations:

• MeeGo is not dead (even if Nokia has partnered with Microsoft). Now, that Nokia is out, several smaller partners are joining in and trying to take a piece of the cake.
• Intel will invest a lot of money in MeeGo and in AppUp for MeeGo.
• There are Apple and Android, but there is still place for MeeGo.
• Developers can already submit MeeGo applications to the AppUp; there are several awards and prizes waiting for the first 100 applications and most interesting ones as well.
• AppUp is very interesting for developers since it’s new; developers can take advantage of being the first on market and benefit the visibility this brings.
• MeeGo will develop fast in the future, there will also be several more events like this one for developers worldwide.
• MeeGo will have common API for all devices, including tablets, smart phones, TV, and car; some minor UI modifications will be needed for better user experience.
• The market will feature component store as well (for developers).

Visitors have also received an ExoPC tablet with preview MeeGo 1.2 alpha on it to take home and start developing fast.